The Little Book of Titanic: 100th Anniversary 1912-2012

107 Pages·2016·3.99 MB·English

by  Todd

C 1: I
HAPTER NTRODUCTION
It is approaching 100 years since the ‘practically unsinkable’ White Star liner
Titanic sank beneath the waves and into the history books. In the years that
followed that night in April 1912 much has been written about the ship and the
tragic loss of life that occurred following its collision with an iceberg during its
maiden voyage to New York, but still the Titanic continues to fascinate. In film,
too, the story of the sinking has been told or reinterpreted – from A Night to
Remember, based on Walter Lord’s pioneering history of the sinking, through
Sir Lew Grade’s costly film of Clive Cussler’s bestselling novel, Raise the
Titanic, to James Cameron’s blockbuster Titanic starring Kate Winslet and
Leonardo DiCaprio.
*A scene from the film “A Night to Remember”.
For more than 70 years the wreck of the Titanic lay undisturbed, but with its
discovery, a whole new industry has been spawned with film crews recording
the ship’s remains and tours down to view it. Artefacts removed from the debris
field have been exhibited and concern over the wreck’s condition has led to legal
action over its actual ownership. Such has been the activity over the 25 years
since its discovery that the wreck’s condition has deteriorated rapidly and it may
well completely disintegrate by the end of the current century.
*Action from the James Cameron film “Titanic”.
The fascination with the sinking of the Titanic is easy to explain. The loss of
such a prestigious ship on its maiden voyage was bound to cause interest,
particularly as the passenger list included many of the era’s rich and famous,
leading to rumours that the ship was conveying a veritable treasure trove of
wealth. There was the drama of the actual sinking itself, the band playing on as
the ship slid under the waves and the failure of the crew to fully utilise the
admittedly inadequate lifeboat provision. There were tales of heroism, such as
the engineering crew who died trying to keep the pumps and generators going
but whose action probably delayed the sinking for over an hour, allowing the
lifeboats to get away, and of those employed in the wireless room who stuck to
their posts as long as possible trying to summon assistance to the stricken vessel.
This book provides an overview of the history of the sinking of the Titanic
and of its aftermath.
C 2: T L , L F S
HAPTER HE ATEST ARGEST AND INEST TEAMER
A
FLOAT
Competition between shipping lines was fierce during the last decade of the
19th century, and profits for the shipping companies involved were limited. In
1893 during a crossing of the Atlantic, the notable financier John Pierpont
Morgan, who had interests in banking, railways and steel, was asked whether it
was practical to try to buy up shipping lines in order to reduce competition and
so encourage more realistic (and profitable) fares. Morgan thought that it ought
to be, but it was not until later in the decade that he started to put this policy into
practice when he acquired American Inman and Red Star lines.
*The Titanic under construction in the Arrol Gantry at the Harland & Wolff
shipyard, Belfast.
In 1902 Morgan created the International Mercantile Marine Company
(IMM) with the idea that competition on the all-important transatlantic route
could be reduced through co-operation and thus profitability enhanced; IMM’s
route to co-operation was to buy up competitors.
Morgan bought into a number of shipping lines, including Atlantic Transport,
Leyland and Dominion, before turning his attention to the larger British-owned
companies, Cunard and White Star. After a bitter battle Morgan acquired White
Star Line for £10 million, making former White Star Line managing director J
Bruce Ismay chairman and managing director of IMM in early 1904. However,
the Cunard deal was thwarted by the British government offering Cunard a soft
loan that allowed the line to construct the Lusitania and Mauretania, and also
providing £150,000 per annum as part of the mail contract. The scene was set for
the development and construction of the ‘Olympic’ class of liner in order to
compete with the new ships under construction for Cunard.
*The Titanic in dry dock, February 1912.
Cunard’s new liners, both entering service in 1906, had been built for speed
in an effort to claim the ‘Blue Riband’ title for the fastest crossing of the North
Atlantic, but there was a price to be paid for speed. Each additional knot required
ever increasing amounts of coal and this added both to weight and cost. In
looking towards Olympic and her sister vessels Titanic and Britannic, White Star
Line decided against competing on speed but in favour of providing the greater
luxury. Of the three, only the Olympic ever completed a commercial sailing,
with Titanic being sunk on her maiden voyage and Britannic, converted for use
as a hospital ship, being sunk in the Aegean Sea before she could enter
commercial service following a mine strike during World War I.
Work was not yet complete on the Olympic when the keel of the Titanic was
laid down in the Belfast shipyard of Harland & Wolff on 31 March 1909 as yard
(ship) No 401 with hull No 390904. At 882ft 9in in length, the second in the
Olympic class was six inches longer than the Olympic, but had an identical beam
of 92ft 6in and a draught of 34ft 7in. The Titanic had a Gross Registered
Tonnage (GRT) of 46,238 tons and a displacement of 52,310 tons.
She was fitted with two reciprocating four-cylinder, triple expansion steam
engines to turn the two bronze triple-blade side propellers, and a single low-
pressure Parsons turbine for the bronze four-blade central propeller. The engines
that powered the three propellers were fed by 25 double-ended and four single-
ended Scotch-type boilers, rated at 215psi, fired by 159 coal-burning furnaces. In
all, the engines provided enough power to achieve a maximum speed of 23.75
knots with a service speed of 21 knots.
The ship was constructed with a double hull, designed to accommodate water
for use in the boilers and additional water to provide ballast (hence stability)
whilst at sea. The ship was, however, designed and built with only a single-skin
hull.
Three of the ship’s four funnels were used to exhaust smoke and fumes from
the engine room, whilst the fourth provided ventilation for the engine room and
the air required to keep the fires in the furnaces alight. Thus, steam and smoke
should only ever have been seen emerging from the leading three funnels;
images that show smoke emerging from the fourth are incorrect.
Following the laying down of the keel, work proceeded rapidly on ship No
401, with the ship being launched shortly after noon on 31 May 1911 watched
by an estimated crowd of some 100,000. On top of the gantry above the ship
flew the Union Flag on one side and the Stars and Stripes on the other, with the
White Star Line’s red pennant flying in the middle. Below, a line of signal flags
proclaimed the message ‘SUCCESS’.
With the Olympic now completed, the Harland & Wolff yard could turn its
attention towards the final completion of the Titanic with a view to the ship’s
maiden voyage beginning on 20 March 1912. However, two incidents to the
Olympic – the collision with HMS Hawke and the loss of a propeller – required
the ship to return twice to Belfast for repair. On the first return it became evident
that the repair work required would cause serious delays to the completion of the
Titanic and, on 10 October 1911, it was announced that the new ship’s maiden
voyage would now begin on Wednesday 10 April 1912.
*The Titanic being guided down Belfast Lough by the tugs Hercules, Huskisson,
Herculaneum and Hornby.
As the Titanic, along with her sister ships, had been designed for luxury and
not primarily for speed, she was opulently fitted out to a standard that far
exceeded that of any other liner then in service. She was provided with a squash
court, separate libraries for all three classes of passenger, a Turkish bath,
gymnasium and swimming pool. The first class rooms, in particular, were
lavishly fitted out; the smoking room, for example, was provided with an old
rose carpet and pink drapes over the curtains.
*The Titanic had many first class suites as seen in this replica.
*A replica of the first class hall on the Titanic.
However, the Titanic was unusual in that it offered reasonable facilities for
third class passengers in an era when this class of passenger was generally
poorly provided for. Apart from the third class library, there was also a smoking
room, two bars and a general room for the use of third class passengers. This
was panelled and framed in pine with a white enamel finish. The chairs in the
room were made of teak and there was a separate adjacent smoking room for the
men, furnished in teak but panelled and framed in oak. Third class sleeping
accommodation – designed for 1,026 passengers – was located on the front
section of deck D and on fore and aft sections of decks E and F. The distance
between the fore and aft sections meant that the crew was able to segregate
unmarried emigrants by sex. Amongst the accommodation provided for single
men were 164 ‘open berths’ (bunks in a dormitory).
Second class rooms were on B and C decks. The smoking room was panelled
in oak with oak furniture upholstered in dark green morocco leather. On C deck,
the second class library was panelled in sycamore, with mahogany furniture
covered in tapestries and with green silk drapes in the windows. The quality of
the second class public rooms was of a standard comparable to first class on
many of the competing liners.
*One of the rooms in which the guests would meet.
The first class dining room, with seating for 532, was situated on deck D, and
was the largest single room on board the ship. The second class dining room
offered accommodation for 394 and the two third class saloons, located on deck
F, could accommodate a total of 473.
The most sumptuous part of the ship’s interior was the forward first class
staircase. This was located between the first and second funnels and extended
down as far as E deck. Decorated with gilded balustrades and fitted with oak
panelling, it was topped by an ornate dome made out of wrought iron and glass.
On the uppermost landing was a large panel containing a clock supported by the
allegorical figures of Glory and Honour. A second, but less ornate, staircase was
located between the third and fourth funnels; this was again surmounted by a
glass and wrought iron dome.
*The magnificent dome-covered grand staircase as depicted in this replica.
The captain’s quarters were located on the boat deck on the starboard side just
aft of the wheelhouse (which stood behind the bridge). The other deck officers
had their cabins in the same section; this area, known as the ‘officers’ house’,
was built around the foremost funnel. The majority of crew members were
allocated bunks on decks D, E, F and G.